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Tuesday, November 06, 2012

A colleague and I at the CCF sometimes like to kick around
the question, “Which are the top 10 worst decisions of the Supreme Court of
Canada?”

One case that we always nominate is Monsanto Canada Inc. v. Schmeiser, 2004 SCC
34, where the Supreme Court held by a five-to-four majority that farmer Percy
Schmeiser had infringed the patent of Monsanto after his canola field was accidentally
contaminated with Monsanto’s patented, genetically modified (GMO) seed. The GMO seed was probably carried to
Schmeiser’s field from neighbouring farms via the wind or insects, but however
it arrived, it was without his knowledge or consent. Yet the decision held, essentially, that Monsanto owned his
canola crop and he didn’t.

While the SCC took the sting out of the decision by holding
that Schmeiser owed no damages to Monsanto, its decision on nevertheless set the stage for many
problems down the road.

A new documentary “Percy
Schmeiser: David
v. Monsanto” by German
filmmaker Bertram Verhaag is available for viewing free until November 10 at this
website. Percy Schmeiser
narrates the history of his court battle and explains the serious negative
implications of this poorly reasoned court decision. I recommend this excellent film.

Although I believe that the court decided wrongly in
Monsanto’s favour, I nevertheless find it disturbing when I hear people
describe Monsanto as “evil” and then proceed to tar all corporations—and all
businesses, for that matter—with the same brush. In my view, any evil that Monsanto or other corporations may
do stems directly from destructive laws and conditions set in place by the
state. It is the state that grants
coercive monopolies through patent law.
Without the power of the state, Monsanto could not exercise any
significant control over farmers.
It is the state, not businesses or corporations, that should be blamed.

Of course, the morality of intellectual property law is
hotly debated among libertarians and conservatives. I expect that some readers of this blog are ardent supporters
of patent law. However, for those
with an open mind or a great deal of curiosity, here are some links where you
can read the moral and practical arguments against state-enforced intellectual
property rights: